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Phrase searching Use quotes to keep word order when searching for phrases. Whether an element is
more specific or more general can be measured objectively by the number of hits retrieved in a
database when searching for a key term representing that element. Contact Your Faculty Team
Librarian Faculty librarians are here to provide assistance to students, researchers and academic staff
by providing expert searching advice, research and curriculum support. The library also offers a
workshop called “ Improving your literature search strategy.”. Depending on one’s institutional
resources, custom macros can be developed using similar methods. This method, with practice,
provides a stepwise approach that facilitates the search strategy development process from question
clarification to final iteration and beyond. The elements to use in a search strategy can be found in
the plot of elements in Figure 1, by following the top row from left to right. These are excellent for
finding out about new research or study that hasn’t been published yet. This can be accomplished by
first identifying any underlying themes. Though it is generally recommended that searchers search
both MEDLINE and Embase, most use MEDLINE as the starting point. A methodology for creating
exhaustive search strategies has been created that describes all steps of the search process, starting
with a question and resulting in thorough search strategies in multiple databases. It should be
accompanied by references listing your sources. At the end of the day, it’s the students responsibility
to do their own research and work. This way, the searcher is in control of the whole process.
Common complaint; could’t find anything in the literature that is related to their studies can’t find
exactly the same topic. However, by following the steps and using the tools as described above,
searchers can gain confidence first and increase speed through practice. Thus, you can cite numerous
references in the same paragraph in a typical Lit Review, and you can mention the same reference in
more than one paragraph if the source discusses more than one of the Lit Review’s subtopics. In the
case of an SR, the researchers do not want to miss any relevant reference and are willing to handle
many irrelevant references to do so. Then, you can clarify whether the literature review is part of a
bigger effort or if it is a standalone piece in this section. Sandborn WJ, Rutgeerts P, Enns R, Hanauer
SB, et al. Each query should, therefore, be checked for errors. Start an element with all thesaurus
terms (using “OR”) and follow with the free-text terms. This allows the unique optimization methods
as described in step 11. The developed search strategies can be copied and pasted into the desired
databases from the log document. Sometimes clues can be found in the number of results, either
when the number of results is much higher or lower than expected or when many retrieved references
are not relevant. On the other hand, a question that is too specific will result into too few or even
zero search results. For our method, an interface that allows searching with proximity operators is
desirable, and full functionality of the thesaurus, including explosion of narrower terms, is crucial. A
djacency searching commands differ among databases. The number of search results from each
source and each strategy used. You should never cite a source that you haven’t read. Searching for
thesaurus terms NOT free-text terms will help identify missed free-text terms in the title or abstract.
Alternatively, many interfaces offer a certain code to replace zero or one characters, allowing a
search for “pediatric” or “paediatric” as “p?ediatric.” Table 1 provides a detailed description of the
syntax for different interfaces. The search for references to include in an SR should be very
sensitive: no included reference should be missed. When adding terms to an existing search strategy,
pay close attention to the position of the cursor. Thus, all articles that describe a certain narrower
topic in their titles and abstracts will already be retrieved before MeSH terms are added. 9. Add
variations in search terms (e.g., truncation, spelling differences, abbreviations, opposites) Truncation
allows a searcher to search for words beginning with the same word stem. In other databases, word
order may be maintained without the need for quote marks. This may necessitate a close examination
of the citation. The asterisk applied to the root of a word captures other endings to that root word
making it useful for retrieving singular, plural and other variations of a keyword. Therefore, searching
Embase will be, by definition, more complete than searching MEDLINE only. Your work and your
findings will be significant only to the extent that they are the same as, or different from, other
people’s work. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to
cut and paste the results into most databases' search boxes. This can be accomplished by first
identifying any underlying themes. In-depth knowledge of subject headings is not required for users
to benefit from improved search performance using them in their searches. Use Boolean logic to
combine search terms Boolean operators (AND, OR and NOT) allow you to try different
combinations of search terms or subject headings. Start an element with all thesaurus terms (using
“OR”) and follow with the free-text terms. This allows the unique optimization methods as
described in step 11. Apart from the syntax (especially Boolean operators and field codes) of the
search strategy, it is wise to have the search terms checked by the clinician or researcher familiar with
the topic. Then, continue with more general and important elements until the number of results is
acceptable for screening. However, the number expected is often unknown, and very sensitive search
strategies will always retrieve many irrelevant articles. Determining how many results are acceptable
for screening is often a matter of negotiation with the SR team. 5. Choose an appropriate database
and interface to start with Important factors for choosing databases to use are the coverage and the
presence of a thesaurus. Several methods describe standards for systematic search strategies, but a
consistent approach for creating an exhaustive search strategy has not yet been fully described in
enough detail to be fully replicable. In the case of an SR, the researchers do not want to miss any
relevant reference and are willing to handle many irrelevant references to do so. As an example, you
work in an aged care facility and are interested in whether cranberry juice might help reduce the
common occurrence of urinary tract infections. It is meant to convince the reader of the importance
of your study. Common complaint; could’t find anything in the literature that is related to their
studies can’t find exactly the same topic. You can do the above without creating a specific table,
through annotating PDFs, or through creating different folders with notes. Then, even if you come
across great books on other topics, make sure you only get articles and books in those fields. If it is
unclear which element should be adapted to retrieve a certain article, combine that article with each
element separately. It is considered the gold standard for biomedical searching, partially due to
historical reasons, since it was the first of its kind, and more so now that it is freely available via the
PubMed interface. You should also include any other literature sources you used. Also, the first draft
should not be considered the final or near-final version. Using appropriate subject headings enhances
your search and will help you to find more results on your topic.
The schema that is followed for the translation between databases is shown in Figure 2. Bottom left
quarter of circle review and refine results. In all reputable journals, peer-reviewed or refereed
research is published only after it has been reviewed by other researchers in the field. To mitigate
this, we recommend using the find-and-replace functionality of text editors like Microsoft Word to
ease the translation of syntaxes between other databases. Each word is added after the combined
decision of the searcher and the researcher, with the possibility of directly comparing results with
and without the new term. 14. Translate to other databases To retrieve as many relevant references as
possible, one has to search multiple databases. For example, searching for articles on the economic
history of Australia, you can simply type in. A djacency searching commands differ among
databases. Sometimes clues can be found in the number of results, either when the number of results
is much higher or lower than expected or when many retrieved references are not relevant. Questions
that are too broad or too vague cannot be answered easily in a systematic way and will generally
result in an overwhelming number of search results. Searching for thesaurus terms NOT free-text
terms will help identify missed free-text terms in the title or abstract. However, with the methods for
optimization as described (step 11), errors are recognized easily because missed synonyms and
spelling errors will be identified during the process. For an overview of Mendeley, have a look at the
video below. Creating search strategies for systematic reviews, finding the best balance between
sensitivity and specificity, and translating search strategies between databases is challenging. Then,
even if you come across great books on other topics, make sure you only get articles and books in
those fields. For example: How do s t udents view inclusive educational practices in schools. Sitemap
case study creative writing presentation problem solving rewiew prompts websites tips. Example
search strategy An example of a search strategy incorporating all three concepts that could be applied
to different databases is shown below. Magazines aimed at a wide audience, such as Time, Us, and
National Enquirer, will not provide you with the information you require. Literature search. Retrieve
other articles based on data from your dataset Check the lists of references in those articles. Every
Tuesday and Thursday at the Research Commons. Keeping these notes will help you avoid this
nightmare in the future. A search strategy should be tested for completeness. Different outcomes are
desired for different types of research questions. Make sure that you let your work put its best foot
forward (metaphorically) by making it look its best. You should never cite a source that you haven’t
read. Choose search terms Start by writing down as many terms as you can think of that relate to
your question. You might try cited reference searching to find a few good articles that you can review
for relevant terms. Remember than most terms or concepts can be expressed in different ways. This
can be accomplished by first identifying any underlying themes. Results of the method Whether this
method results in exhaustive searches where no important article is missed is difficult to determine,
because the number of relevant articles is unknown for any topic. For instance, in the case of clinical
question answering, the researcher will not be satisfied with many references that contain a lot of
irrelevant references.
The conclusions reached are certain, inevitable, inescapable Inductive - Explores the data to develop
theories which are then tested against the literature. The library was pro-active in adopting a new
service model as it took cognisance of the fact that there would be a greater emphasis on supporting
academics and their research; and ensuring that library staff were appropriately skilled to support
these services into the future (Kealy, 2009: 573). One might be tempted to omit those parentheses
for ease of reading and management. If you know some relevant references that should be included
in the research, search for those references specifically; for example, combine a specific (first) author
name with a page number and the publication year. Creating search strategies for systematic reviews,
finding the best balance between sensitivity and specificity, and translating search strategies between
databases is challenging. Therefore, an odd number added to another odd number will result in an
even number. Therefore, it may not contain the phrase “hip osteoarthritis” but only “hip oa.” It is also
important to search for the opposites of search terms to avoid bias. It should provide a theoretical
summary or critical evaluation of these scholarly works. To help ensure term completeness, we
developed a novel optimization technique that is mainly based on comparing the results retrieved by
thesaurus terms with those retrieved by the free-text search words to identify potentially relevant
candidate search terms. Macros in Microsoft Word have been developed to convert syntaxes between
databases and interfaces almost automatically. An official website of the United States government
The.gov means it’s official. Skim reading allows you to quickly grasp what the article is about, and
its value. To add those terms to the first query (with reduced parentheses) requires adding extra
parentheses (meticulously placing and counting them), whereas, in the latter search, it only requires
proper placement of those terms. Many search methods highly depend on the PICO framework. A
search strategy and search results should be documented throughout the searching process. Though it
is generally recommended that searchers search both MEDLINE and Embase, most use MEDLINE
as the starting point. Steps to increase sensitivity or specificity of a search strategy can be found in
the supplementary appendix. 13. Check for errors Errors might not be easily detected. Type the
syntax (Boolean operators, parentheses, and field codes) before adding terms, which reduces the
chance that errors are made in the syntax, especially in the number of parentheses. Your search
strategy will include: keywords boolean operators variations of search terms (synonyms, suffixes)
subject headings Your search strategy may include: truncation (where applicable) phrases (where
applicable) Researching for your literature review: Develop a search strategy Start developing a
search strategy by identifying the key words and concepts within your research question. What is a
literature review. 3 basic elements?. What is a literature review. Develop Search Strategy The search
strategy used for literature review. The Lit Review should include the most relevant related studies
and demonstrate an understanding of both key past research and practices in the subject and
promising current research and practices. It should be used with caution as you may inadvertently
exclude relevant references. Research Guides: Literature Reviews: Develop Search Strategies
Developing a search strategy is a balance between needing a very precise search that yields fewer
highly relevant results or a comprehensive search (high retrieval) with lower precision. These are
excellent for finding out about new research or study that hasn’t been published yet. However, with
the methods for optimization as described (step 11), errors are recognized easily because missed
synonyms and spelling errors will be identified during the process. First, Embase provides both
unique content and the complete content of MEDLINE. Abstract the author’s description of the
study related to your area of interest. This is the situation when you are asked to investigate the
existing state of research on your issue and then analyze and synthesize your results. Using student-
created research has a number of drawbacks: 1) they are frequently unpublished and only available
through interlibrary loan; 2) the student conducting the research may not be a seasoned researcher.
The library also offers a workshop called “ Improving your literature search strategy.”.
Library Calendar Log in to the Library's remote access system using your MyID account. As an
example, you work in an aged care facility and are interested in whether cranberry juice might help
reduce the common occurrence of urinary tract infections. If the known relevant references are not
retrieved by the search, adapt the search so that they are. These are useful, particularly for current
information. Is it trying to say that what you are studying is niche or has been studied in the past but
not in the same way. One good strategy to identify missing “OR”s is to go to the web page
containing the full search strategy, as translated by the database, and using Ctrl-F search for “AND.”
Check whether the occurrences of the “AND” operator are deliberate. To create your topic, consult
with your supervisor. Then, you can clarify whether the literature review is part of a bigger effort or
if it is a standalone piece in this section. For this reason, I will speak to the literature review,
revealing tips and tricks relating to it, in three different posts. This lays a solid basis for the rest of
your paper. Overlapping elements Elements in a question sometimes overlap in their meaning. For
SR search strategies, checking searches for their recall is advised. Therefore, all our works will be
submitted with a FREE Turnitin plagiarism report. Schematic representation of translation between
databases used at Erasmus University Medical Center Dotted lines represent databases that are used
in less than 80% of the searches. Results of the method Whether this method results in exhaustive
searches where no important article is missed is difficult to determine, because the number of
relevant articles is unknown for any topic. This is particularly important if you are undertaking a
systematic review or an in-depth piece of work Subject headings may vary between databases, so
you need to investigate each database separately to find the subject headings they use. Start an
element with all thesaurus terms (using “OR”) and follow with the free-text terms. This allows the
unique optimization methods as described in step 11. Determining how many results are acceptable
for screening is often a matter of negotiation with the SR team. 5. Choose an appropriate database
and interface to start with Important factors for choosing databases to use are the coverage and the
presence of a thesaurus. We are a strong believer in academic integrity and have a “zero tolerance
policy” on plagiarism. Limitations of the method One disadvantage of single-line searches compared
to multi-line search strategies is that errors are harder to recognize. Any change to the search strategy
should be done in the log document, assuring that the search strategy in the log is always the most
recent. 7. Identify appropriate index terms in the thesaurus of the first database Searches should start
by identifying appropriate thesaurus terms for the desired elements. Therefore, it may not contain the
phrase “hip osteoarthritis” but only “hip oa.” It is also important to search for the opposites of search
terms to avoid bias. For the first part see Slaying the (literature review) beast: Part 1. Our
methodology works best if used in an interface that allows proximity searching. Therefore, searching
Embase will be, by definition, more complete than searching MEDLINE only. You might try cited
reference searching to find a few good articles that you can review for relevant terms. Remember
than most terms or concepts can be expressed in different ways. Therefore, an odd number added to
another odd number will result in an even number. Using student-created research has a number of
drawbacks: 1) they are frequently unpublished and only available through interlibrary loan; 2) the
student conducting the research may not be a seasoned researcher. The symbols may vary in different
databases - See the Database search tips guide for details or check the Help link in any database. At
Erasmus MC, macros based on the find-and-replace method in Microsoft Word have been developed
for easy and fast translation between the most used databases for biomedical and health sciences
questions.
In this article, we describe the method developed at Erasmus University Medical Center (MC) and
demonstrate its use through an example search. If your search strategy is retrieving a lot of irrelevant
results, look at the irrelevant records to determine why they are being retrieved. At Erasmus MC,
macros based on the find-and-replace method in Microsoft Word have been developed for easy and
fast translation between the most used databases for biomedical and health sciences questions.
Several factors can complicate the identification of thesaurus terms. Sometimes, one thesaurus term
is found that exactly describes a specific element. You can do the above without creating a specific
table, through annotating PDFs, or through creating different folders with notes. This way, the
searcher is in control of the whole process. For the first part see Slaying the (literature review) beast:
Part 1. Using the schema in Figure 1, elements can be ordered by their specificity and importance to
determine the best search approach. You should also include any other literature sources you used.
As somebody who has knowledge in that field, they are able to guide you to where the gaps are for
investigation. As we aimed to describe the creation of systematic searches in full detail, the method
starts at a basic level with the analysis of the research question and the creation of search terms.
Readers who are new to SR searching are advised to follow all steps described. Translation of
complex and exhaustive queries between different databases can be very time consuming and
cumbersome. These hypothetical (when possible, combined with known) articles can be used as
guidance for constructing the search strategy. 3. Decide which key concepts address the different
elements of the question Key concepts are the topics or components that the desired articles should
address, such as diseases or conditions, actions, substances, settings, domains (e.g., therapy,
diagnosis, etiology), or study types. Their conclusions should be regarded with greater skepticism
than previously published research. The Lit Review should include the most relevant related studies
and demonstrate an understanding of both key past research and practices in the subject and
promising current research and practices. Check out the Database Help guide for more tips on
Boolean Searching. This record could be a document, table or spreadsheet with: The names of the
sources you search and which provider you accessed them through - eg Medline (Ovid), Web of
Science (Thomson Reuters). It should be critical - try to avoid simply cataloguing previous work but
evaluate it as well. Additionally, each database you search is developed differently. At the end of the
day, it’s the students responsibility to do their own research and work. Also consider singular and
plural forms of words, variant spellings, acronyms and relevant index terms (subject headings).
Depending on the research question, certain elements are more important than others. A discussion of
your knowledge about the topic under study A discussion of your knowledge that is supported by the
research literature. This will let you plot out concepts related to your topic, and see quickly how the
literature fits into it. A clinical search should be rather specific and is allowed to miss a relevant
reference. Check the database help section if you are not sure which searching commands to use.
The choice of an interface and primary database is often determined by the searcher’s accessibility. It
is a great website that is FULL of tips and tricks for writing, including a PhD thesis-at-a-glance
template and a checklist, helping you make sure you haven’t missed a thing. Therefore, searching
Embase will be, by definition, more complete than searching MEDLINE only. To add those terms to
the first query (with reduced parentheses) requires adding extra parentheses (meticulously placing
and counting them), whereas, in the latter search, it only requires proper placement of those terms.
Many search methods highly depend on the PICO framework.